How to Gain a Blog Following – A 5 Point Checklist

How to Gain a Blog Following – A 5 Point Checklist

There are numerous ways to gain a blog following depending upon the target audience and how they prefer to interact with content. Fortunately, there are a few key steps which can always be followed when creating a blog and content to create a solid foundation to gain a blog following consisting of new visitors as well as repeat readers.

1. Take Advantage of Social Media

The first step is to take advantage of social media. Regardless of the niche there is at least one social media platform where the target audience spends their time. It is important to remember not all audiences exist on the same platform. As a result, some blogs will benefit by engaging in multiple platforms simultaneously. At the same time, it is important not to try and reach every platform because it is time-consuming and commonly leads to thin content on every platform rather than quality content on a few key platforms.

2. Stick to a Schedule

The second step is to create a content creation and publishing schedule and stick to it. It is impossible to gain a consistent blog following if content is released at irregular times. Readers want a sense of consistency so they know when to be on the lookout for new content. If content is released irregularly it is nearly impossible to gain a consistent following because readers will come and go with little long-term retention.

3. Make Content Easy to Share

The third point on the checklist is to ensure content is easy to share. While doing the basics such as adding social media sharing buttons to a website is important there is much more to creating shareable content. It is important to consider how content shows up on a variety of social media platforms by selecting appropriate images and headings. Additionally, many people still share content via email or print content to share a hard copy. This is often overlooked by new bloggers and limits their potential following by making it difficult for potential readers to share content with others.

4. Be Mobile Friendly

It is critical websites and blogs are mobile friendly. More people are accessing websites and blogs via mobile devices such as tablets and cell phones than ever before. Along with focusing on quality content is important to focus on how it looks across a variety of devices and screen sizes.

5. Be Unique

Creating a unique voice is more important than ever. Hundreds of new blogs pop up every day and a unique voice is the easiest way to stand out and gain followers. If a blogger regurgitates the same information in the same way as everyone else there is no unique reason for readers to come back because they can get the same content elsewhere.

Every blogger has an opportunity to be unique and stand out but the key to long-term success and continually gaining a blog following is to create a solid foundation. Leveraging social media, sticking to a publishing schedule, making content easy to share, developing a mobile friendly website, and adding a unique spin to information are the five key steps to developing the necessary foundation to gain a blog following.

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1 Comment

I like the idea of creating a checklist on how to gain more followers on my blog and think that I have done a pretty good job of following the five items you pointed out. I’ve been thinking about some different ways to generate traffic and getting people to come back to my blog more often and want to share my thoughts.

One thing I’ve been thinking about is trying to focus on generating building an email list. By sending out an email once a week or so (I add blog content at least three or four times a week) with an update highlighting my new content they may come back more often. I don’t have a lot of experience trying to build an email list but it doesn’t seem like it should be too difficult from a technical perspective since I use Word press and there are a lot of plug-ins that would help me with email marketing.

One idea I would like to add is guest posting on other websites in your niche. For my website this has been one of the best generators of new traffic.